1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vehicle door structure. More specifically, the present invention relates to vehicle door structure that includes an exterior door and an interior panel supported to a vehicle for pivotal movement about separate pivot axes where the interior panel moves with the exterior door and also supports the exterior door.
2. Background Information
Many personal and commercial vehicles, such as cargo vans, include upright cargo doors that pivot about vertical axes in order to access cargo space. Such cargo doors are typically located at a rear of such vehicles pivoting between a closed position covering a cargo space opening and an open position exposing the cargo space opening. Preferably, the opening and the upright cargo doors are as large as possible in order to maximize the access to the cargo space and allow movement of large objects in and out of the opening and the cargo space.
In recent years, such personal and commercial vehicles have been designed to include contoured side panels where one section of each side panel is vertically offset from another section of the side panel. Such designs enhance the appearance of the vehicle and in some designs can improve aerodynamics. The offset sections of these side panels present challenges for vehicle designers. The offset sections of the side panels create a narrowed area that is most prominent when viewing the vehicle from the front or rear. More specifically, the upper region of the vehicle body can be narrower than the lower region of the vehicle body.
In order to adequately support the large cargo doors, the effective hinge length of the hinge arrangement of the cargo doors must be relatively large. The effective hinge length of the hinge arrangement is defined as the distance between the uppermost end of an upper hinge and the lowermost end of a lower hinge of the hinge arrangement. Typically, the effective hinge length of the hinge arrangement of the cargo door is greater than half the height of the cargo door, and preferably approximately two-thirds of the height of the cargo door.
A problem is created by the inclusion of such offset sections of the side panels in the vehicle design. It is desirable to have a large opening requiring large doors to access the opening. However, in order for the doors to pivot about vertical axes, the size of the opening must be narrowed in order to accommodate a hinge arrangement with a typical effective hinge length. With a narrowed upper region of the vehicle body, the vertically oriented pivot axes (and hence door hinges) must be moved inward from the narrowest part of the vehicle.
In view of the above, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art from this disclosure that there exists a need for an improved vehicle structure that provides support for vehicle cargo doors without reducing the size of the cargo opening. This invention addresses this need in the art as well as other needs, which will become apparent to those skilled in the art from this disclosure.